The latest research on sunscreens at the University Of California, Riverside, has exposed alarming information. In the USA and most of the world, three of the most popularly used chemicals in sunscreens for UV-B rays, (Octylmethoxycinnamate, Octocrylene and Oxybenzone), do not remain on the surface of the skin, but are absorbed.

The story gets more frightening when you realise that, when these chemicals encounter a UV ray deep in the skin, they become serious “free radicals”.(Free radicals can damage cells and are believed to accelerate the progression of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related diseases.) These chemicals, on the one hand, can protect us from UV rays penetrating our skin, but on the other hand, can become serious free radicals when absorbed and encounter UV rays penetrating the skin. To reduce the chance of this happening it is important to make sure that adequate sunscreens are applied on the surface of the skin at all times so that the UV rays do not encounter the absorbed chemicals.

Advantages of RAD:

· RAD contains minimal amounts of these chemicals, since the long term effects are unknown. For that reason RAD only has an organic (chemical) sunscreen component of SPF 4.

· Titanium Dioxide (a mineral)is another sunscreen component used in RAD and this remains on the surface of the skin (not absorbed), thereby not affected by sun-exposure (does not become a free radical). This keeps the SPF value of about 12 all the time. It does not get degraded; the only problem being that it can be rubbed or sweated off. When RAD is applied appropriately and repeatedly, the molecules that have been absorbed deeper into the skin are less exposed to UV rays and thereby fewer free radicals develop. If we did not have the Titanium Dioxide and rather used the standard cocktail of chemicals used in most sunscreens, then, as the SPF factors get used up, there would be less and less protection of the significant number of molecules that penetrate into the skin where more free radicals are made.

· Antioxidants(believed to help protect the body from free-radical damage)in RADmop up many incidental free radicals that occur. This is important since no sunscreen can block 100% of the rays which cause free radicals to occur…even with the best sunscreen with exposure for only a short time.

RAD is one of the safest, most effective sunscreens because:

1. It gives a real SPF 16, even though people do not use it as in a laboratory.

2. It restricts exposure to organic (chemical) sunscreen molecules that cause free radicals when they have been absorbed. The manufacturers of RAD avoid Oxybenzone and Octocrylene.

3. It gives a more lasting protection on the surface of the skin with its inorganic sunscreen component “titanium dioxide” (which won’t interfere with the activity of the antioxidants, whereas zinc can) and this protection means that the absorbed organic molecules are less exposed to UV rays, thereby causing less free radicals.

4. It significantly reduces activity of free radicals because of the antioxidants.

5. It contains no perfumes to cause photosensitivity.

6. People are not under the false allusion of TOTAL PROTECTION.

Re-apply every one and a half to two hours because SPF 16 does not give you protection for very long. Remember that SPF 16 equals 160 minutes (about two and a half hours for Fitzpatrick type II – lighter skin) to about 320 minutes (about five and a half hours for Fitzpatrick type IV – darker skin) under ideal circumstances.